Well, the economy is on everyone’s mind, hundreds of thousands of people losing their jobs. So I feel kind of bad griping about my choices for my February vacation. It’s a dirty job, someone has to do it, so here goes.

At tonight’s Christmas party one of my fellow vacationers brought out printouts from a cruise site. In my last post I said price might be the determining factor in our choice, and in this tough economy the travel industry has some real bargains.

Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and Carnival all have very enticing packages. 7 day Bahama’s cruises, interior rooms, for under $400 bucks, tack on a $200 airfare to get to Miami, less than $100 day for vacation. Not bad. Still 4 days “at sea”, 3 days off.

“All inclusive” resorts have become very popular over the years and I have had good experiences in several of them.

Puerto Vallarta, Acapulco, and Cabo San Lucas, to name a few. Same amenities as a cruise ship. Room, food, entertainment are covered in price, as usually is the flight to get there. But now I would have a beach to lay on and a ocean to play in…(DundeDundeDundeDunde…Damn you Speilberg! Previous readers will understand, lol) …everday plus as many excursions as we can muster.

Problem…Most of the “All Inclusive” destinations are running about 40-50% higher than a cruise. These resorts are actually posting good value pricing, it’s just the cruises are being given away dirt cheap!

Over the next few weeks I will continue to watch the prices of my choices and try and swing the group my way, but it may be hard to overcome the cheap cruise mentality.

I’ve heard from some of you, saying “Oh, what a tough choice..cruise or vacation spot”, I wish I had to make such a tough choice”. And I said it before, you are all right. When February rolls around and it’s -6 wind chill, ANYWHERE but here will be a relief, it just would be nice if it was somewhere other than a cramped boat. So what do you think? To much of a whiner? lol